COMLEX and USMLE

[LDee]

I am soon to begin my second year as a DO student and I am trying to find non-biased information on whether or not it is advisable to take both the COMLEX and USMLE or just the COMLEX. I am currently unsure of what speciality I would like to get into, however, my interests as of now lean towards general surgery, neurology, emergency med...so if someone could please help me out with any advise or reasoning I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks

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[Buckeye(OH)]

With neurology in there, you need to take both. Its not really up for debate. Search as to why. This is the dead horse you always hear about....

 

[SoCuteMD]

With neurology in there, you need to take both. Its not really up for debate. Search as to why. This is the dead horse you always hear about....

I'm not sure it's totally necessary if you are interested in neurology. If, on the other hand, you meant to write neurosurgery then you need to take the USMLE.

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

I'm not sure it's totally necessary if you are interested in neurology. If, on the other hand, you meant to write neurosurgery then you need to take the USMLE.

Either way, if it were me, I'd take both.


I took both and I intend on doing anesthesia..

 

[Medicfletch]

Start out by looking at some residency sites you think you might be interested in applying to and then email them to see if they take the COMLEX and if so what their cut offs are.

I was on the fence post about taking both until I emailed some anesthesia programs I was interested in and found out their recommendations. I found that while some programs stated they took the COMLEX, the scores they required vs the score they required for the USMLE were completely different. One program, required >650 on the COMLEX vs only a 210 on the USMLE (and this wasn't a top program either). This sealed the decision for me to take it.

With that being said, I caution you to only take the USMLE if you think you can do well on it, otherwise it may come back to hurt you later on.

 

[LDee]

ok...i just started joined the bandwagon of craziness aka preparing for boards, so how would i go about finding residency sites that i could contact to find out what they recommend/standards...i am interested in staying in or around the PA area. help??

 

[predodoc]

I see this same question asked about 2-3 times each week and I would like to share what I think THE Method all DOs out there should use to make this decision.

I would say this fits 99%+ of DO's.


ALL DO's SHOULD take the USMLE UNLESS you fall into 1 of 3 three categories

1. You KNOW 100% that you want to do a primary care specialty.
or
2. You KNOW 100% that you want to do an Osteopathic residency (no matter what specialty you want to do)
or
3. You are in danger of failing/doing poor on USMLE(read below)

Most people don't know how they will do on USMLE before taking it, so if you fall under #3 then do the following:
1. Plan on taking both test and sign up for BOTH of them
2. About 1 month before the USMLE take either the NBME 2 or 3 practice test on the NBME website($45 each).
3. Decide if you think it is worth it to take the USMLE from your NBME score- I would probably make your cut off at 1 month be about 185-200 to be safe with a worth while score. If you make below that, its your call. Some people can bring their score up 30+points in a month, but some can only bring it up a little. Bottom line is with a USMLE score below a 200 you probably wasted your time/money. Personally I would only consider it really worth it if you score 215+.
If you don't make the "cut off" at 1 month, then call and cancel. I think you only loose about $50 by canceling within a certain amount of time.
So worst case scenario- you sign up for both, then do terrible on the NBME practice test, so you cancel and loose about $50 for canceling and $45 for the NBME test.
Best case scenario- YOU TOTALLY SURPRISE YOURSELF WITH HOW WELL YOU DID ON THE USMLE AND LAND AN AWESOME RESIDENCY.

 

[SoCuteMD]

I see this same question asked about 2-3 times each week and I would like to share what I think THE Method all DOs out there should use to make this decision.

I would say this fits 99%+ of DO's.


ALL DO's SHOULD take the USMLE UNLESS you fall into 1 of 3 three categories

1. You KNOW 100% that you want to do a primary care specialty.
or
2. You KNOW 100% that you want to do an Osteopathic residency (no matter what specialty you want to do)
or
3. You are in danger of failing/doing poor on USMLE(read below)

Most people don’t know how they will do on USMLE before taking it, so if you fall under #3 then do the following:
1. Plan on taking both test and sign up for BOTH of them
2. About 1 month before the USMLE take either the NBME 2 or 3 practice test on the NBME website($45 each).
3. Decide if you think it is worth it to take the USMLE from your NBME score- I would probably make your cut off at 1 month be about 185-200 to be safe with a worth while score. If you make below that, its your call. Some people can bring their score up 30+points in a month, but some can only bring it up a little. Bottom line is with a USMLE score below a 200 you probably wasted your time/money. Personally I would only consider it really worth it if you score 215+.
If you don’t make the “cut off” at 1 month, then call and cancel. I think you only loose about $50 by canceling within a certain amount of time.
So worst case scenario- you sign up for both, then do terrible on the NBME practice test, so you cancel and loose about $50 for canceling and $45 for the NBME test.
Best case scenario- YOU TOTALLY SURPRISE YOURSELF WITH HOW WELL YOU DID ON THE USMLE AND LAND AN AWESOME RESIDENCY.

I think this is great advice.

 

[Medicfletch]

ok...i just started joined the bandwagon of craziness aka preparing for boards, so how would i go about finding residency sites that i could contact to find out what they recommend/standards...i am interested in staying in or around the PA area. help??

Use the FREIDA site: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/2997.html
Search for your specialty and area. Each residency listed will have a link to that program's website, most have contact info listed somewhere.

 

[Upstairsmamma]

Don't even sign up for USMLE. Almost every DO student I know who planned to take it ended up backing out. Do well on COMLEX and save the 500 bucks.

 

[peppy]

ALL DO's SHOULD take the USMLE UNLESS you fall into 1 of 3 three categories

1. You KNOW 100% that you want to do a primary care specialty.
or
2. You KNOW 100% that you want to do an Osteopathic residency (no matter what specialty you want to do)
or
3. You are in danger of failing/doing poor on USMLE(read below)

I agree with this advice too. I'm not sure what I want to do yet either so I took both in order to keep my options open. It's really not that bad to have to take both. Most people plan it so that they do the USMLE first, then have a couple of days to study OMM before doing the COMLEX. I think that's the easiest way to do it. Good luck!

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

Don't even sign up for USMLE. Almost every DO student I know who planned to take it ended up backing out. Do well on COMLEX and save the 500 bucks.

Anecdotal evidence is worthless. Everyone that I know from my class that signed up for the test took it, and passed.

 

[Upstairsmamma]

Anecdotal evidence is worthless. Everyone that I know from my class that signed up for the test took it, and passed.

ok... good for them

 

[TheEleventhReel]

Some 4th year elective allopathic rotations require you to submit your USMLE score in the rotation application. No USMLE, no rotation. Don't know which schools specifically, but just what I've heard from some upperclassmen. I have a feeling that if they require the USMLE for a rotation, it'd be a safe bet they require it for residency.

 

[Taus]

Don't even sign up for USMLE. Almost every DO student I know who planned to take it ended up backing out. Do well on COMLEX and save the 500 bucks.

another quick anecdote for you b/c I know you love em....

Just about all of my friends who took both ended up getting right around the same 2-digit scores on each test.

I hope that decision won't come back to bite any of your classmates in the a$$. Most programs that I know I'll want to apply to are fine w/ the COMLEX. But......3 of the ones that I would love to go to highly suggested that I have a solid USMLE score (as per current residents). So...now I do....and I'm very happy I took it

 

[peppy]

Oh, I can totally believe that a lot of DOs probably get freaked out and back out from taking the USMLE. I'm sure many MD students would also back out of it if they didn't *have* to do it. It's an intimidating test and it's impossible for most of us to study enough to realistically be 100% prepared for anything they might ask. Even on the day of the test (when I knew it would be a big problem to cancel), I seriously thought about backing out of it cuz I was so scared and felt unprepared.
Nonetheless, even though I don't have my scores back yet, I am happy I chose to bite the bullet. I figure it's better to go there and try your best than to always wonder if not even trying held you back.

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

ok... good for them

Clearly you missed the point.